Stuffed-Animal Headphones

Intro: Stuffed-Animal Headphones

This will show you how to make a quick (10-minute), cuddly audio accessory out of a pair of cheap headphones and two small stuffed animals. Not much in the way of skills is necessary.

Your friends and acquaintances will coo with delight!

STEP 1: Procure the Supplies.

What you will need:

-One pair cheap headphones (mine were of the 5-dollar Amtrak variety, I believe), preferably small-ish with removable foam ear discs, although this is not a necessity.

-Two stuffed animals. You want these to be medium-small and (preferably) cheap. I don't want you cutting into any Steiff bears, now. You'll save yourself loads of time if the animal has a seam up it's back. You can find them in places like drugstores and five-and-dimes.

-Seam ripper

-Needle and thread

-Quality Music

-Fabric glue (optional. I didn't use any, but it's up to you.)

STEP 2: Un-Suture the Poor Bastards.

Use the seam ripper to tear through that handy back-seam, pulling out cut threads as you go. If you didn't get an animal with a back-seam, well, shame on you. In this case, I would suggest you make a very neat, straight cut along where the back-seam would be if it had one (down the middle of the toy's back). You don't necessarily need to undo the whole seam, just enough to fit the earpiece of the headphone in. Remember to take care and make it neat, because you're going to have to sew it all back up again in a moment. If your stuffed animal seems ill-at-ease, reassure it with a comforting pat on the head and tell it, in soothing tones, that everything will be all-right.

Repeat for second animal.

STEP 3: Insert the Earpiece.

First of all, check to see a) how thick each animal's "fur" is, and b) what kind of earpiece you are dealing with. For example, my earphones had a kind of hard, thin, plastic cup around the speaker itself. Not something I would want jabbing into my head. The tan-colored bear had thin-ish "fur", so when I inserted the earpiece I left the foam disc on. The koala, however, had very thick "fur", so as to avoid muffling of the sound I took the foam disc off. Due to the thickness of the "fur" I thankfully could not feel the speaker inside.
But anyway, insert the speaker, noisy-side up (meaning facing the back of the animal). This is where some glue could come in handy, but again, I didn't need any.

STEP 4: Stitch It Back Up.

Use you needle and thread to sew up the back-seam (I used a simple whipstitch), adjusting the earphone as necessary as you go. Leave the wire hanging out of the bottom of the seam and the connector for the earphones (the "headband" part) out of the top. Again, glue?
Do it neatly, and don't try to make the "scar" too big. That won't feel very pretty on tender ears.

Repeat for both earphones.

STEP 5: Plug in Your Freshly-Minted Plush Headphones and Jam.

May I suggest some nice theatre organ music?
http://www.theatreorgans.com/southerncross/Radiogram/radiogramtitle.htm

And have fun! I would welcome any feedback, and if you do decide to do this project, I would love to know how it turns out!

Love,
WurlitzerGirl
>..<

Comments

[ewilhelm]

The projected was mentioned on WCBS this morning!

[WYN soldier]

Hi, im curently making my first fur suit and bumped into your channel. I just wanted to say nice project and how are you so prettay?

( ^ .^)~ * cheers

[finfan7]

These are awesome! I should make a variation on these. If I do I will post.

[WurlitzerGirl]

Thank you so much! You should make some... I would love to see them! :D

Love,
WurlitzerGirl
>..<

[finfan7]

I've already got some plans. I have a few panda things (WOOO! PANDAS!!) that would work quite well. The only problem is that I have to find them again. They are somewhere in the roiling collection of random objects that fill my bedroom.

[laylabeck]

no they are. not tiger's are

[pandaboy292]

pandas are the coolest anmials ever. i went to d.c. to see them. i was also thinking of panda headphones. i have like 10 stuffed anmials on my dresser. 5 are pandas. the others are, a coke bull from argentina, a coke wolf from romania(not really from those places), a baboon, a penguin, and barqy the barqs rootbeer dog. and for some random information i also have a snickers shelf full of candy 3 empty snapple bottles.

[finfan7]

A friend of mine has his entire room done up in pandas. Stuffed pandas, panda figurines, kung fu panda movie and video game boxes, enjoi brand skate products, a small panda fountain. The whole room is coated in pandas. When we were filming there one day we were doing a serious scene where another friend of ours had to walk in from his room to the room where we were filming and he kept coming out the door laughing because he kept seeing the pandas.

[pandaboy292]

your friend is awesome!

[WurlitzerGirl]

Oooo, pandas! Bonus!! Haha kind of sounds like my bedroom, that looks like an antique store 'sploded.

WurliGirl

[partypanda2345]

These are cute now my mom can not say I didn't get rid of them cause I have a lot and I am just turning it into something new

[Kilo147]

Do a writeup of how to raise a Mr. Sucky!

[Little Mom on the Prairie]

I am going to make a pair for my 8 year old daughter, she will LOVE kitty earphones, and I will LOVE not hearing the same kids bop CD played over and over! :D

[KDS]

I am told by others who have seen this that it is creepy. I like you. I beleive that positive traits, like creepiness, should be encourage by simple and direct compliments. I would show you my collection of roadkill plushy heads (used up dog toys) mounted on the wall.. but that would probably be creepy too.

[WurlitzerGirl]

Are you kidding?? I'd love to see your dead stuffed toy heads, that sounds awesome! (Why didn't I think of that?) And being called creepy is a huge honor in my book. Thanks for the compliment :D

[KDS]

I know its been a while, and there seems to be this sillyness going on forums about necroposting (I tend to think the age of the post doesnt make it any less real and valid answers or comments are good past the 'best by' date) but in any case. in answer to your comment, I suspect my plushy trophy heads met their fate in a bonfire my ex had while I was away.. but im commenting mostlyon "why didnt I think of that?".

I encourage you to pretend that you did and run over a few heads and maybe get some red paint and mount them on your head in some fashion. :) Headphones are cool but do they get heavy after a while? I'm wondering if just a standard headband might be cool. Also.. can teddy bears become zombies? This should be explored in more detail I think.
In any case... there is always too much to do for me and I never get to do the follow through on any of my ideas (I'm an insomniac and I can't even count the number of ideas i've seen pop up ten or twenty years later) so I really admire someone who actually gets projects done and I'd love to see you do more work.

- Kari

[KDS]

Unfortunately they are actually MIA at the moment (how do boxes disappear when you move, even when you number them? I suspect angry out-of-work shoe elves) You might also consider roadkill(or not) plushy purses or backpacks. When .25cent yardsale stuffed animals and a razor get together.. the fun never ends. This holiday season just remember, nothing says 'I love you" like the precious and timeless gift of roadkill.

[missnebulajones]

I can't wait to try this! These are excellent :)

[paperclip32]

 can i substitute the animals with my cats?they're about the same size anyway.......

[duckythescientist]

I love the idea, but you'll need to remember to sedate them before you insert the headphones. My experience tells me that modding cats is rather difficult unless they are unconscious or heavily sedated. I recommend Valium. :P